Day: February 14, 2022

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Movie Review

They Live in the Grey (2022) Movie Review ‘Terrifying’

They Live in the Grey – Terrifying

 

Director: Abel Vang, Burlee Vang

Writer: Abel Vang, Burlee Vang (Screenplay)

Starring: Michelle Krusiec, Ken Kirby, Madelyn Grace, Audrey Moore, Ellen Wroe, Mercedes Manning, Bernard Bullen

Plot: Claire, while investigating a child abuse case, discovers that the family is being tormented by a supernatural entity.

Runtime: 2 Hours 3 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: They Live in the Grey starts as we meet the grieving child protective service agent Claire Yang (Krusiec), who does try to support the connect between a mother a child, even if it means them getting separated.

When Claire gets her latest case on the Lang family, with daughter Sophie (Grace) showing signs of abuse, she meets the family Audrey (Wroe) and Giles (Cacia), struggling to see any problems between the family, seeing the bigger problem, a supernatural entity attacking the family.

Thoughts on The Live in the Grey

Characters & Performances – Claire Yang is a child protective service agent that has lost her own son, she will always want to keep the families together or at least having a connection if there are troubles, which will put her job at risk at times. Claire does suffer from visits from the dead, with each having a shocking story to tell, but she doesn’t get them treated because it will also bring her a visit from her own son. This gift will help her in the latest case, as a supernatural entity is targeting the family, making everything look like abuse to anyone on the outside. Claire goes through an incredible amount of pain, scares and shocks through this film, which is highlighted in the excellent performance from Michelle Krusiec, delivering in every scene. When it comes to the family being investigated, we have parents Audrey and Giles that are coming off innocent through the events, while Sophie can’t explain what is happening to her, in a way that makes sense. Claire is also still with her husband Peter who between the both of them have been struggling to have the same connection they once had.

Story – They Live in the Grey will bring us a story that will focus on the difficult position child protective services agents will find themselves in, when needing to investigate a family, mixing this with the own grief suffered from a parent losing their own child. The story will put most of the focus on the agent and her problems, not giving s much time to spend with the family, which adds to the mystery about what is real or supernatural, while the agent deals with her own problems with the visits from the undead. The best way to describe the story would be to show how Claire is dealing with grief and until she learns to accept support, she will remain in the darkness that is holding her back.

Themes – They Live in the Grey is a horror thriller that will dive into the idea that people can connect with the dead, giving us plenty of terrifying scares along the way. Each scare will come off with a relentless feel, as we are trapped like Claire in the environment she would consider safe. There will also be a discussion about what would be right in the child abuse cases, which will opening up a bigger discussion on how much time a case should have.

Final Thoughts – They Live in the Grey is filled with scares and grief through the darkness in the film.

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Movie Review

Valentine (2001) Movie Review

Director: Jamie Blanks

Writer: Donna Powers, Wayne Powers, Gretchen J Berg, Aaron Harberts (Screenplay) Tom Savage (Novel)

Starring: Denise Richards, David Boreanaz, Marley Shelton, Jessica Capshaw, Jessica Cauffiel, Katherine Heigl, Hedy Burress

Plot: Five women are stalked by an unknown assailant while preparing for Valentine’s Day.


Tagline – Revenge is sweeter than candy.

Runtime: 1 Hour 36 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Slasher 101

Story: Valentine starts as we see a high school kid getting rejected and embarrassed at a school dance, after he asks for a dance, move forward to college time, Shelley (Heigl) a medical student is murdered. The four remaining friends Paige (Richards), Kate (Shelton), Dorothy (Capshaw) and Lily (Cauffiel) reunite because of the funeral, seeing the old friends getting twisted valentine’s day cards.

When the women start getting stalked they realize they might be getting attacked by the former high school student, but nobody knows where he is now, leading to a host of boyfriends or ex-lovers become the suspects.

Thoughts on Valentine

Characters – Kate is the nice one of the girls, she was the only one that didn’t reject Jeremy at the dance, she is in a struggling relationship with her best friend trying to help her move on, she hasn’t given up on her partner yet. Paige is the flirty one of the group, known for sleeping around but confident about what she does, she will shoot down any unwanted advances and be the one that sticks up for the girls. Dorothy is another one of the girls from a rich family that has grown up to improve herself always self-conscious of her image. Lily is leaving for LA and is like Paige only just not as successful, willing to give artists a chance. Adam is Kate’s boyfriend, he has a drinking problem and to keep her, he needs to improve his act, which he is trying to do. The sad thing about the women characters in this film, is that they only seem to care about whether they have a boyfriends or not, nothing else is made out to be important in any means.

Performances – We have a cast here which does everything they need to, Marley does make us feel like the girl next door, Denise Richards is a flirty seductive character works well and David Boreanaz as the boyfriend with problems does work too, the two Jessicas does well too, with Capshaw showing the insecurities she is feeling and Cauffiel being the confident bubbly one.

Story – The story here follows five friends that are getting stalked on valentine’s day with them believing it is a high school kid that once embarrassed at a high school dance years before. Let’s start by making sure we know this is a slasher film, with the story that doesn’t need to be that deep in how everything unfolds. The characters are never going to be that deep with most of these being horrendously written to be unrealistic, we have women who are only interested in whether they have boyfriends and who are only interested in men that let them down in different ways. The only thing this does is introduce us to a string of different potential suspects who could be the grown up former student. The smartest part of the film comes from the kills on the main group, while another weakness would come from the random deaths, which just don’t make sense to what the calculated plan is.

Horror/Mystery – This is one of the horror films that grabbed the slasher era of late 90’s early 2000’s well, it is pure slasher material and an ease to watch. The mystery here comes from just who the killer could be, we do get plenty of suspects, though the killer does seem to kill the suspects that would make the most sense.

Settings – The film here is set in a big city, one that people do want to get out off and the one the girls grew up in, they have their own lives, which see them being targeted by the killer.

Special Effects – The effects are used for the injuries which work, without needing to be anything more or going for fancy over the top kills.


Scene of the Movie – Hot tub time.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Certain side kills are just too random to the plan.

Final Thoughts – This is a fun slasher that while it does have flaws, you could easily watch with a drink or two and enjoy the events of the genre done correctly.

Overall: Pure Slasher Horror Fun.

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ABC Film Challenge

ABC Film Challenge – Oscar Nominations – N – Never Look Away (2018) Movie Recommendation

German artist Kurt Barnert has escaped East Germany and now lives in West Germany, but is tormented by his childhood under the Nazis and the GDR-regime.

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Movie Review

Flee the Light (2021) Movie Review

Director: Alexandra Senza

Writer: Jennifer Mancini (Screenplay)

Starring: Annie Tuma, Ariana Marquis, Jamar Adams Thompson, Jane Siberry, Fox Kent, Leanne Ofori-Atta

Plot: A psychology student attempts to cure her sister’s crippling psychosis only to expose them both to its origin: an ancient creature intent on claiming their souls.


Tagline – It Hunts in the Light

Runtime: 1 Hour 20 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Flee the Light starts when sisters Andra (Tuma) and Delfi (Marquis) start finding themselves dealing with an unexplainable series of events as Andra starts to see herself being targeted by an ancient creature, that has started to take over her.

As the sisters look to solve the problems, they will start to see the deadlier side of what the creature wants, leading them to search for more answers outside of normal science, in the supernatural field, but can they save themselves before it is too late.

Thoughts on Flee the Light

Thoughts – Flee the Light is a horror thriller that will see the bond between two sisters as they will need to battle their own problems as they find themselves being attacked by an unknown ancient creature. When it comes to the idea behind what is going on is interesting because we balance the already known psychosis one of the sisters is going through, with a supernatural side of thing, mixing the unexplained side to things. When it comes to the supernatural side of things, we get enough to show the fear, but it only seems to show the danger within the circle, not a bigger threat that could be going on. The performances from the two leads Annie Tuma and Ariana Marquis are both strong, making you want to see more from them going forward. There is a weakness and that comes from the special effects being used that can take us away from the bigger picture.

Final Thoughts – Flee the Light is a horror that will give you plenty to enjoy, but does fall flatter when it comes to biggest impact.